Page 120 of Possession

He brushed a kiss to my temple. “I keep her well stocked with pizza and Thai food.”

“That he does.”

Out.

Now.

Please.

“All right. You go home and get some rest. Christmas day at my house, though. No arguments.”

I nodded. I’d say anything now. I’d never go to her house and spend time with her after what I knew now. Never.

Blake gathered me in and steered me to where we’d checked our coats. The clutch was practically burning in my hands as we waited for the attendant.

“A few minutes more.”

I nodded.

He held up my coat for me and took my clutch so I could put my other arm in. “We’re out of here. You did amazing.”

“Oscar-winning performance,” I muttered as we swung through the doors and outside. I turned back to look at the lights and laughing people and caught Danny Donnelly talking to Philomena.

God, Ihopedit was Oscar-worthy.

“Can we go home?”

“Yes. We can go home.”

“No, to my home.” Okay, technically it was Blake’s, but right now, I couldn’t handle anything else. I needed the familiar and the water to even me out.

“Grace…”

“I know, but I need my grandmother’s house right now. I need the ocean.”

He nodded. “All right.”

“Thank you.”

The trip to my house was silent. Tension flowed freely from Blake, but he was willing to do what I needed. When we got inside, I noticed the changes to the house right away. Security had been increased and there was electricity, praise be.

I climbed the stairs to my old room and found a few steamer trunks there. He hadn’t taken all of my belongings out yet. I shed the dress and the sexy lingerie in favor of my old overalls and a stain-splattered T-shirt.

Little pieces of Blake had infused the house with the unfamiliar. A large bookcase, furniture, and other manly items didn’t fit in with the ultra-feminine memories I had of my home.

He’d had the broken windowpanes fixed and my eyes misted when the stained glass had been replaced exactly as I’d made them.

I moved out to the porch, lured by the sound of the ocean. The white crests of the waves soothed me like nothing else. The insides of my home might be changing, but this one thing never would.

The view that I’d grown up with. Even as a small child, this had been my safe place. My parents had moved everywhere and hadn’t thought twice about leaving me behind with Annabelle when it suited them.

And finally, they just left me here for good. Instead of feeling abandoned, I’d felt found for the first time in my life. Now it seemed as if the same thing was happening.

Blake came up behind me. “It’s cold out here.”

“I know, but just a few minutes more.”

“As long as you want, Grace.”

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